The 5 W’s of Social Media Lead Generation

We’ve said it here before, and we’ll say it again: social media is the place to be for lead generation. Each platform offers insight and information about thousands of potential prospects, and it’s all right there waiting for you. But in order for your strategy to be efficient and effective, you have to identify the 5 W’s of your lead generation: Who, What, Where, When, and Why. This post will give you a brief breakdown of what these elements are and how to use them to your advantage.

Who:

To identify the “Who”, you must identify the ideal buyer persona for your business. Ask yourself what kind of person would be most interested in what you have to offer? What interests, industry, or job title listed in a bio would qualify someone as a good customer for you? What would they typically Tweet about? Developing a detailed idea of whom you will be targeting is the first step in generating leads.

What:

The “What” is your value proposition. Know what you’re offering and be passionate about it. Show your prospects what you or your product/service can do for them while being clear and concise. Social media users have remarkably short attention spans. If warm leads cannot immediately tell what your business does, you’ll have little luck convincing them to examine it further.

Where:

So you find your leads, what next? You need a place to send them, to direct them to a next step. Do you want your leads to watch a demo? Sign up for a free trial? Download an eBook? If you want them to move forward, there must be a place for this. Give them a link to your landing page or website to start the conversion process.

When:

Timing is essential in turning a lead into a conversion. For each lead you discover, ask yourself why now is the right time to engage with them? Have a set of parameters that have been met before you attempt to bring someone into your conversion pipeline. For example, did a person recently Tweet something to qualify them as a warm lead? Maybe they’re attending a conference related to an industry you wish to target. Waiting for this evidence of interest will increase the effectiveness and relevance of your lead gen interactions.

The “When” can also extend to the interactions themselves. You should be conscious of when each of your engagements takes place, and how often you’re Tweeting or messaging them to follow up throughout the sales process.

Why:

To have any hope of attracting leads you must prove the worth of what you are offering. This goes back to the value prop. You’ve told them what your business can do for them; now prove that it’s worthwhile. The “Why” is established through social proof: high profile clients, large Twitter following, customer testimonials, etc. It also helps to establish early-on value. Socedo does this through our demo video on the Socedo landing page, which highlights of the value that our tool can offer. This value will be the force that drives leads into your conversion funnel, so establishing it as soon as possible must be a priority.

So these are the basics. Lead generation on social media is a powerful source of growth, but it must be done right. The 5 W’s are the foundation of any good lead gen strategy. And they will set you on the path to turning these platforms into prospecting machines.